Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; How to increase carb level without starch?

From reading people's posts, it often seems that most people have strong reactions to the smallest amount of starch. I went from a very high carb/starch diet to a moderate LSD. Still ate a little rice or sweet potato most days, and never tested any food with iodine. Otherwise, pretty much starch free.

My pain levels dropped pretty drastically from that single change, though I still had some limitations. Didn't need any pain meds at all, for the first time in years, as long as I didn't overdo my activities too much. The swelling in my fingers disappeared, too.

But I was still on 7 mg/day of prednisone due to my adrenal insufficiency. That was changed to hydrocortisone this week, as we are trying to very slowly taper me down over the next year, hoping that my pituitary and adrenal glands will choose to start functioning again sometime. Anyway, hydrocortisone does NOT have the anti-inflammatory effect that prednisone has, and my pain levels and swelling have partially returned - enough to interfere with my sleep.

So, now I'm trying to decide how strict to make my diet, in the hopes to reduce my pain again. My main issue is that I can't go too low in total carbs, as that causes problems with my adrenal insufficiency. I want to stay around 100 gm/day.

BUT I also have some blood sugar issues if I eat too much fruit. I'm not diabetic, but my blood sugar shoots higher than it should with fruit.

So: 1) no starch is best for my spondylitis, and 2) little fruit is best for my blood sugar, and 3) increased carbs is needed for my adrenal insufficiency. I can't figure out how to eat 100 gm/day of carbs with all those limitations. Even a cup of carrot juice is only about 10 gm/carb, and I can't drink 10 cups a day of that!

Any suggestions? I'm thinking that right now I need to focus on improving my spondylitis and not causing problems with my adrenal insufficiency (an AI crisis can be fatal), and to not worry about my blood sugar levels right now.

Do you have more details than "blood sugar issues with fruit"? Does the type of fruit matter? It might help you eat it with nuts, to provide protein and slow the digestion, and also splitting it up into smaller servings could limit the spikes.

I find a mixture of walnuts and raisins to make a safe snack, so how about mixing up 2/3 c of raisins with some walnuts, and split it across multiple meals/snacks. According to raisin nutritional info, that would get you 100g of carb that you need, with only trace amounts of starch in the walnuts.

I'm trying to keep my blood sugar below 140. A single slice of melon or a serving of grapes will shoot it up to 160-180. I haven't tested all types of fruit or serving sizes, as I have a complication with my steroid medication. I take the HC 2 or 3 times a day, and my small dose of this medicine alone spikes my blood sugar, too, even if I'm fasting. That doesn't leave a lot of "neutral" time to test foods without the steroid factor complicating things.

I've tried taking a teaspoon or so of coconut oil at the same time as my fruit, hoping to slow the spike, but it hasn't helped a lot so far. Maybe I needed more? I haven't tried any dried fruit yet.

Up until recently, I've avoided all nuts, as I was trying out an autoimmune protocol of the Paleo diet. But I've eaten several types of nuts this month, without any obvious issues. I wanted to minimize my use of most nuts, as their omega-6 levels are pretty high. Guess right now, though, I should focus on reducing my starch intake and deal with other issues later.

Your question brought to mind something I had read about glucomannan, a fiber that is supposed to help with blood sugar responses and also with allergic responses to foods. I just bought some psyllium husks powder two days ago for gut related issues not thinking about the blood sugar reactions, but I realized that it's helping with regulating my energy levels, so maybe it's helping with blood sugar, too. The only fruit on my list right now is baked apples. I usually can't eat fruit because of blood sugar spikes and the correspoding dip, but since starting the fiber, the apples aren't bothering me. I also add small amounts of grape juice to my yogurt smoothies, but that doesn't seem to bother me most likely because of the fat and protein in the yogurt.

One other thing that I am hoping for from taking the fiber is that it will absorb and remove endotoxins from the gut. I read an article yesterday about the adrenals and the immune system.

http://www.adrenalfatiguefocus.org/does-adrenal-fatigue-cause-yeast-infections.html

It said, among other things, that fungal and bacterial overgrowth tax the branch of the immune system that has to deal with them, and that in turn can take a heavy toll on the adrenals. I don't know if you get adrenal issues during the night or not, but (and I have to find this source) endotoxins are particularly active at night for some reason. I'll find the first article I mentioned and post it here. It's definitely something worth experimenting with.

I tried taking psyllium husks for fiber a couple years ago, and it spiked my inflammation to the point where I was on the edge of iritis after a couple days. That was shocking to me, since at the time I thought starch was the only thing to be worried about. Since then I've learned I'm not the only who can't handle it, but on the other hand I've heard others besides Violeta who can stand it. Could be determined by differences in gut flora. So anybody who is considering trying psyllium should do cautious experimenting to find out (this isn't a warning for Violeta who seems to be ok with it, but for others who haven't tried yet).

I sympathize with this, also having heard about omega-6 promoting inflammation, but starch restriction has proven to have a much more noticable effect for me and the raisin/walnut snack is one of my really safe foods. Maybe someday I'll have enough variety in my diet that I can cut down on omega-6 but that time isn't now.

I'm fortunate that I don't seem have low blood sugar issues. BUT I do have frequent outbreaks of yeast infections in my armpits and groin. It started when I was on Remicade, methotrexate, and prednisone. I'm been off most immune-suppressants for several months now, but my system is still messed up. These yeast infections are another reason I was hesitant to increase my fruit intake.

But I definitely need more carbs for my AI. And, yes, I have a lot more problems with my adrenal issues at night.

Boy, I was just thinking about the immensity of the frustration of your problem. You need to eat carbs for your adrenals but when you eat carbs your blood sugar goes too high. Sheesh.

But does it seem strange that you don't get low blood sugar? The adrenals are what protect against that. There must be something else that's making the blood sugar spikes. Is it insulin resistance? I don't know too much about it, but just from reading other people's messages over the years, it seems like that's a common reason. Or would it be that you're not producing insulin? That's what gets the sugar out of the bloodstream, right?

Good job on getting off the immune suppressors.

I was also thinking this morning about how the fiber is helping me in a lot of different ways, and that made me wonder how important is it to clean out the gut, and what else can I do. Then a few things popped into my mind about fiber sweeping out bile and estrogen. It makes me wonder if it would also help get rid of bacteria and the endotoxins that they produce.

I might try pectin, too. I was going to try that first because most seeds cause me problems, even if they're ground up, soaked, whatever. But Whole Foods didn't have any, so I bought the psyllium husk powder. It says it contains carbs, but from what I've read about fiber, it's not absorbable so they don't count.

Have you seen Diane Schwartzbein's, The Schwartzbein Principle, Part II? She has some really good information about not only adrenal exhaustion, but also insulin resistance.

Take care